National Digital Literacy Mission

Also called the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA), the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) program is devised to provide IT training and education to 5.25 million Indians, so as to make citizens with zero IT knowledge digital technology-literate. The objective is to make them well-equipped and capable of using and benefiting from Digital India’s several digital connectivity and infrastructure plans.

The program will be conducted in all Indian states and union territories, which will be divided into three categories: A, B and C keeping the population in mind. Category A and B will cover 10 states each, and Category C covering 15 states and UTs. The highly populated states will be part of Category A; the moderately populated will be under B; and the less populated regions would go under C.

Category A

Category B

Category C

Maharashtra

Kerala

Arunachal Pradesh

Tamil Nadu

Orissa

Nagaland

Karnataka

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

Rajasthan

Uttarakhand

Meghalaya

Gujarat

Jharkhand

Tripura

Uttar Pradesh

Delhi (National Capital Territory)

Manipur

Andhra Pradesh

Assam

Mizoram

Madhya Pradesh

Punjab

Goa

Bihar

Jammu & Kashmir

Sikkim

West Bengal

Chhattisgarh

Chandigarh

Puducherry

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Lakshadweep

Daman & Diu

Andaman & Nicobar

The citizens targeted for training are ASHA and Anganwadi workers, fair price shop dealer and owners, who’ll be trained in a couple of phases – the first phase covering 1 million people. The remaining will be part of Phase II. Out of the first million, 630,000 people will be offered level 1 training and 270,000 individuals will be given level 2 training. Civil society and industry partners are expected to conduct the training programs in NGOs, government-authorized centres, Common Service Centers (CSC) and authorized educational establishments.

Training Levels

Level 1 training will help educate people to operate digital products (tablets and mobile phones), use email services, Internet browsing, etc. The second level will focus, along with level 1 course elements, on how to access several e-governance services.

Both levels will be taught in all regional Indian languages, with the total duration being 20 hours (level 1) and 40 hours (level 2). Level 1 and level 2 candidates should be no more than 7th and 8th grade pass respectively. Every household will nominate at least one family member for enrollment in the nearest NDLM training centre. The membership details will be verified using the Aadhaar card.

Vision

The NDLM program has been designed to complement the National Optical Fibre Network initiative. The long-term goal is to help furnish/improve village-level governance, employment, education, and empowerment through digital literacy.